


In The Flash Of A Second

by prettybirdy979



Series: May Not Live To See Our Glory [1]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death Fix, Episode Fix-it, Fix-It, Gen, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 21:15:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5263889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettybirdy979/pseuds/prettybirdy979
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a world where Ben Urich goes home alone. There is a world where he meets his murderer there. There is a world where he dies.</p><p>This is not that world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Flash Of A Second

**Author's Note:**

> Basically the 'What would it take to save Ben Urich's life' fic I've been waiting for and decided to write. 
> 
> Thanks to PipMer for looking it over!

Fate is a dodgy thing. Destiny often depends more on choices made in the flash of a second, than on anything foretold or planned. The right thing said at the right time can do more than change your fate.

Sometimes, it can save someone’s life.

In one world, Karen Page doesn’t make the right comment at the right time. In this world, Ben Urich chooses to go home, to the place where his murderer awaits. In this world he dies for Karen’s ‘crime’ and takes his potential with him.

This is not that world.

********

‘Thinking I might write a blog,’ Ben says as he fishes for his keys. He might have just been fired but right now he’s flying too high to care. ‘Hear that’s all you kids read these days.’

Karen laughs. _’I thought you hated that kind of shit,’_ she jokes and Ben smiles. He goes to say something but Karen continues, _’Do you even know how to make a blog?’._

Ben has to laugh at her teasing. ‘Oh it’s like that huh? Old guy can’t make a blog because he’s old,’ he says, fake outrage in his voice.

 _'If the shoe fits. You are the one who hates technology.’_  There’s something else in her voice, almost like worry. Ben sighs internally.

‘Well you’re right about it being the way to reach a lot of people… if you have the right story to tell.’

_‘Fisk’s father?’_

‘Yup,’ he says as he leans against his car. For some reason, this sparks a memory that makes him nervous. It takes a second for him to recall his second meeting with the man in the mask. Is this keeping his head down? ‘I’m going to write it all tonight. Put it out there. Drag his past out of the shadows. See if he can keep that hidden.’

There’s wonder in Karen’s voice. _’This is gonna change everything, Ben.’_ She pauses then adds, _’This is going to drag you into the light with him._

It is. Ben’s never feared for his life while writing a piece. Well, that’s a lie. He has feared for his life but never like this… ‘I know.’ The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen’s words come back to him again, echoing in his head.

 _'Are… are you going to be safe?'_  Karen asks as the image of the headless Russian flashes through Ben’s mind. _K_ _eep your head down,_  the Devil repeats before Ben’s mind adds in his voice, _Before you lose it too_.

‘This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ll be fine.’

Karen laughs but Ben can hear the tears in it. _‘If you say so. This is my first.’_

Fear surges through Ben at the thought of Karen in danger. ‘Tell me you’re not alone.’ Her silence is answer enough. ‘Karen, where are you?’

_'My office. Matt might come by later; he’s been working late recently. Foggy and he… well they’re avoiding each other and their hours are weird because of it.’_

Ben ignores the last part of her statement and focuses on the first part. No matter how capable, Karen is still a woman alone and even if her blind lawyer comes in, Ben’s not sure how much help he’ll be. ‘So you’re alone right now and you _might_  have someone come?’ She makes a noise of affirmation. ‘Right. I can write this at your office just as easily as I can at home.’ Realising he’s just basically invited himself to her place of work, he adds, ‘If that’s okay?’

‘ _Are you sure it’s safe?’_

‘Safety in numbers,’ he shrugs. ‘And you can show an old man how to blog.’ She laughs and with a final goodbye, they hang up.

********

He makes it to Nelson and Murdock’s office in record time. When he gets into it, Ben is a touch surprised to find the door locked. And pleased. He’s very pleased.

With a twist of the doorknob he calls, ‘Karen? You there?’

‘Coming!’ A moment later the door opens and a teary eyed Karen lets him in. Matt Murdock is standing in the doorway to his office and while he’s wearing his glasses, Ben would swear he’s as teary eyed as Karen. Clearly, he’s interrupted something.

‘Ben?’ Matt calls, confusion in his voice. ‘Is something wrong?’

With a shrug, Ben moves into the office. ‘We’re not sure. Figured it might be safer to stick together until we are sure.’ Matt tilts his head with a frown and Ben elaborates. ‘I’m writing a story on Fisk. I’m going to put everything out there.’

‘I thought we still had no proof.’

Karen moves some stuff from her desk and gestures at Ben to take a seat. ‘We don’t,’ she confirms. ‘Nothing that a paper could print.’ She opens up her laptop, getting a word document up.

‘Then what are you putting out there?’

Ben frowns at the laptop as he takes the seat in front of it. It’s a lot smaller than he’s used to and he’s not sure he trust that little square to be a decent mouse. But it’s not like he can bring his computer here and there’s nothing else available. ‘A blog,’ he answers Matt. ‘The internet doesn’t require sources as vigorous as I’d like so for the moment, it’ll have to do. Once the story is out there, he won’t be able to stop it.’

‘You’re going to just publish. Without any proof?’ There’s a note in Matt’s voice; a familiar note that Ben’s trying to place. ‘You’re going to draw his attention.’

‘I think we already have done that,’ Karen whispers. Ben turns to look at her confused but she shakes her head. ‘We’ve not exactly been silent about our investigation.’

Matt groans. ‘That’s not what I mean Karen. You’re going to stick your head out here; put yourselves in danger-’

‘We’re already in danger, Matt,’ Karen snaps. ‘Nothing we do is going to change that so long as Fisk has control of Hell’s Kitchen.’ He sighs and turns away but Karen moves and grabs his hand. ‘But if we work _together_ , we can do this. No one has to be alone; we take steps together.’

He seems to stare at her for a long moment but Ben knows that’s just the effect of his dark glasses. Then he nods. ‘Okay. Okay. Together.’ He pats Karen’s hand before he tugs his hand free of it and moves into his office. A moment later he’s back with his laptop and some files. ‘Conference room?’

Karen nods, clearly delighted. ‘Conference room.’

********

Ben’s not sure he’s ever passed a night quite like this. It’s almost like a study group or a slumber party in Nelson and Murdock’s conference room. Ben writes his story and reads it aloud for critique which Matt is surprisingly good at, always picking out badly worded sentences. However he fails completely at _fixing_  them which is where Karen comes in, rewording so well Ben’s half tempted to credit her as a co-writer.

When they’re not helping with his work, Matt is working on his case and Karen is helping Ben by organising what they do have; trying to establish a coherent timeline with as much evidence supporting it as possible. It means every time Ben goes looking for a file with information he needs, it’s always on top or close to him.

Which is a nice feeling.

Finally Ben reads out the final paragraph, to Karen and Matt’s nods. ‘So, what do you think?’

‘It’s going to make things very difficult for Fisk,’ Karen says. ‘If we can make this popular… it’ll be everywhere. He won’t be able to escape it.’

Matt sighs. ‘If we can make it popular-’ he stops mid sentence and cocks his head. Before anyone can ask what’s wrong, someone wriggles the door handle to the office loudly before banging on the glass.

‘Karen? Karen? You there?’

With a wide eyed look at Matt, who is rapidly packing up his things, Karen goes to the door. ‘Do neither of you carry your keys?’

‘Why would I carry the keys to my-’ Foggy is saying as he walks through the door. He cuts himself off when he sees Matt, who disappears into his office. ‘-my office.’

Ben finds himself surprised at the sudden tension in the office. Before he can comment, Matt reemerges from his office, bag and cane in hand. He heads for the door and Foggy steps aside gracefully. But he pauses in the doorway, ‘Ben?’

‘Yes Matt?’

‘Are you going to publish tonight?’

Ben blinks in confusion. ‘Of course I am; why else would I do this?’

Matt nods. ‘Then be careful.’ And without explaining anything, he’s gone, leaving only the awkward tension behind.

‘What am I missing? Publishing what?’ Foggy asks and it’s then Ben notices his arms are full of files.

‘We’re going to go public on Fisk.’

Foggy’s eyes brighten. ‘You have evidence?’ Both Karen and Ben shift guiltily and he groans. ‘You can’t publish hearsay! You’ll ruin our whole case… wait, is the paper even going to publish it?’

‘I was fired,’ Ben says, head held high. ‘So I’m taking what I know to the people.’

‘The internet?’

Ben nods. ‘The internet.’ With another groan, Foggy shakes his head and moves past them to his office, dumping the files on his desk.

‘What are all those?’ Karen asks.

Foggy takes a seat at his desk and shrugs. ‘I’m not sure yet. I’ll tell you when I do know.’

‘And Matt?’

He groans. ‘Karen, drop it-’

Realising he might be in the middle of something, Ben starts to move back into the conference room. ‘I’m gonna publish this and then get out of your hair.’ Karen turns to look at him with a glare. He raises his hands, ‘I’ll go straight home. Should be okay there.’

She sighs, then nods. ‘Okay. I’ll help you pack up.’ Silently Ben hits post on his new blog before they silently pack up this things.

Finally his curiosity gets the better of him - taking longer than he expected because he is a reporter after all - and he asks, ‘What’s up with them?’

Karen shrugs and Ben can see the frustration on her face. ‘I don’t know! They’ve not talked since Matt got beat to hell and Foggy helped him cover it up.’

‘Matt got beat up?’ He hadn’t moved like he was injured but then Ben isn’t sure he knows the man well enough to be able to tell.

‘He said it was a car accident but I don’t believe him. Car accidents don’t leave injuries like that.’

Ben puts the last of his files in his bag and shrugs. ‘Well, once we take Fisk down, we can look into Matt’s injuries.’

‘You think it’s worth looking into?’ Her eyes are wide like she can’t believe he thinks she’s had a good idea.

He smiles. ‘I think you think it’s worth looking into. And you’ve had good instincts so far.’ He pats her hand gently. ‘Thank you.’

‘Thank _you_.’

********

Ben’s just put the last of his files into his chair when he hears a dull thump behind him. He turns to look but there’s nothing there. Shaking his head, he turns back to his car and shuts the door. It’s then he freezes.

The Devil of Hell’s Kitchen is crouching down, so that he was hidden by Ben’s door. He puts a finger to his mouth. ‘You’re being watched. At least two men.’

‘Fisk’s?’ Ben asks nearly silently. The Devil nods. ‘What should I do?’

‘Get into your car as normal. Drive home the long way and as slow as possible. I’ll follow; meet you there.’ Ben’s heart is racing, a familiar fear flooding him. This is not the first time someone’s tried to intimidate him through stalking.

From one moment to the next, the Devil seems to disappear; moving into the shadows with practiced ease and leaving Ben to get into his car.

His hands are shaking, the only sign of the fear he’s feeling. It might not be his first rodeo but Ben _is_ getting old and this entire situation is making him far more nervous than usual. Like he is in actual danger. It’s not a great feeling but Ben hasn’t gotten this far by ignoring his instincts.

Pulling out onto the road it quickly becomes clear who’s following him. There’s only one black. car behind him and it’s not subtle; staying behind him despite the near crawl he’s doing. Also it’s black and very fancy for this part of Hell’s Kitchen. Ben takes unusual turns that during the day might be shortcuts but at night are completely useless. The car follows him through every single one.

But a few times Ben glances up and spots a black figure on the rooftops beside the road. He’s not sure he’d be able to see the Devil if he wasn’t looking, the man is that good. But Ben’s grateful even for the occasional glances and finds himself reassured by them. Whatever he’s going into; he’s not going into it alone.

There’s nothing amiss when Ben pulls up at his home. The car that’s been trailing him finally overtakes him and speeds off with a squeal of brakes. It really wasn’t very subtle. Cautiously, Ben gets out of his car and starts to unpack his things.

‘Don’t,’ the Devil whispers, causing Ben to jump. He’d not heard the man come up behind him. ‘There’s someone in your home. Big man… I think it’s Fisk.’

Fear and confusion war in Ben’s chest. ‘Fisk is in my home?’ The Devil nods. ‘How do you know?’

‘I just do. Do you trust me?’

Ben considers everything that’s happened and everything he knows before nodding. ‘God help me, I do.’

‘Then believe me. Fisk is in your home and he’s not alone. There’s a team of men in a truck a few doors down; they’re his backup. Whatever he’s here for, it’s not good.’ The Devil looks him in the eye - or looks him in the eye as much as is possible with a mask covering them. ‘You cannot go in there.’

Anger surges through Ben. ‘And if I don’t, what happens?’ The Devil looks down with a sigh. ‘Thought so. Can you get my files somewhere safe?’

‘You’re going in there.’ There’s a note of finality in the Devil’s voice; like he’s saying goodbye. ‘Knowing what you know?’

‘I’ve been threatened before. This won’t be much different.’

The Devil shakes his head. ‘Give me five minutes then. I’ll take care of the men and then I can go in with you. As backup.’

‘You have two.’ With a nod, the Devil is off; disappearing into the shadows again.

Ben counts to ten, then locks his car and walks into his home.

He can handle this.

********

The moment Fisk’s hands close around his throat, Ben realises three things. One, he’s misjudged this whole situation. Two, he really should have listened to the Devil.

Three, he’s going to die.

He struggles of course but Fisk is bigger, stronger and has the advantage of surprise. Ben has no hope -

There’s a meaty thump, barely audible over the roaring in Ben’s ears. But then the grip of the hands around his throat loosen and air explodes back into his lungs, causing him to heave and gasp. As soon as he has some control over his limbs, he rolls away from Fisk, struggling to his knees.

‘Breathe,’ the Devil says as he helps Ben to his hands and knees. ‘You’re going to be okay.’

Ben just coughs at him, shock still running through him. ‘Easy for you to say,’ he tries to say but it comes out mostly as a combination of coughing and hacking.

Understandably, the Devil ignores him. He rises from his crouch and Ben can see how stiff he is. Clearly Fisk’s men put up a fight. ‘We need to get out of here before Fisk wakes.’ Ben collects himself enough to turn to stare at Fisk. He’s out, from what looks to have been a well placed blow from Ben’s now broken computer.

‘Right, yes.’ Ben tries to rise and finds he’s still very weak and extremely shaky. Dizziness forces him back to his knees and he groans.

‘We have to go. Now,’ the Devil says, ignoring Ben’s groan and pulling him to his feet. When it’s clear Ben’s not in much of a condition to walk alone, he throws one of Ben’s arms over his shoulder and takes a lot of his weight.

Ben blinks and tries to think through the fogginess of his mind right now. ‘Where are we going?’

‘Somewhere safe.’ The Devil leads him outside before helping him up to the rooftop of a neighbouring building. Ben rests against an AC Unit while the Devil watches the street below.

‘You got my files?’

The Devil nods. ‘Only had time to grab one box so I took the one on top. It’s hidden nearby; once you’re safe, I’ll go back and fetch it.’

Somewhere safe. Is there any such place now that Ben knows Fisk wants him dead? ‘Where are you going to take me?’

Cocking his head, the Devil examines Ben. ‘The one place no one will think to look for the Devil.’

********

A church.

Ben’s church; as lapsed as he is. Since Doris… well, it’s been harder to balance everything and religion hadn’t really been Ben’s greatest priorities. Hell, he’s not even sure if any of his colleagues realise he’s Catholic; bar Geoff- no, Ellison, Ben has to think of him as Ellison, the man who might’ve just helped Fisk try to kill him. Not his friend, the only man who knows Ben well enough to know his religion.

It takes him a moment but he recognises the man who comes to the door as Father Lantom; the priest who seems to make a point of visiting Doris once a week or so. He’s a good man, Ben’s sure of it.

He raises an eyebrow at the sight of the Devil half carrying Ben but just opens the church door further and lets them in. ‘Is this the point where I ask if anyone saw you and how much trouble you’re in?’ he says mildly as they follow him through the church to what looks to be a private room. It has a small sofa and writing desk at least; so Ben assumes it’s some kind of study? He’s really forgotten a lot of what he was taught about his religion.

The Devil laughs. ‘Only if you want to know the answer, Father.’ He helps Ben onto the sofa and turns to look at Lantom. ‘Fisk tried to kill this man tonight; personally.’

Father Lantom’s eyes go wide and he looks at Ben. ‘Why are you here? Surely the pol-’

Ben shakes his head and tries to sit up. The Devil stops him moving with a firm hand on his chest. ‘My word against his. He owns the police and I bet by now he has a dozen men who’ll swear he was halfway across town.’ Fear surges through his still dizzy head as he realises they might have lead Fisk to this church. ‘Is it safe for me here?’

The Devil nods. ‘No one followed us and Father Lantom won’t tell anyone?’

It takes Ben a moment to realise that’s a question but Lantom seems offended. ‘Do you think so little of me, that you think I would betray a man to the devil at his heels?’

Suitably ashamed, the Devil lowers his head. ‘You’ll keep him safe?’

‘With my life. Now go; take the back entrance.’ The Devil nods and turns to leave.

‘Wait!’ Ben calls and he pauses, ‘Can you get word to Doris and Karen? Make sure they’re safe?’

The Devil nods then seems to consider something. He reaches into a pocket and throws a burner phone into Ben’s lap. ‘Call Karen yourself.’

********

Both the Devil and Father Lantom make themselves scarce as Ben dials the number, turning his own phone off after getting Karen’s number.

 _'Hello? Who’s this?’_  She answers on the sixth ring, sounding sleepy and concerned. A quick check of his watch alerts Ben to the fact that it is three o’clock in the morning and he’s probably just woken Karen up. With a call from an unfamiliar number.

‘Karen? It’s me, Ben.’

_‘Ben? What’s wrong?’_

‘Ah. Nothing?’

Now she sounds more alert and angry. _‘You don’t call at three am for nothing. What’s wrong?’_

He sighs. ‘Where are you Karen?’

 _‘At umm… at the office.’_  He decides not to comment on this; it’s not like he can talk. _‘Why?’_

‘Fisk attacked me. At my home.’ She gasps and Ben rushes through the rest of the explanation, ‘I got out; obviously. Your masked man was there, he saved my life.’

She doesn’t act like he expects, with pleasure at confirmation of her opinion. Instead she asks, _’Where are you? I’ll be right there; just let me wake Fogg-’_

‘No!’ Ben snaps and there’s a long silence on the other end of the line. ‘No,’ he repeats in a softer voice. ‘I… I can’t tell you where I am. It’s not safe.’

_'Ben-’_

‘For either of us. If they realise you’re close to me; they’ll go after you next. Fisk…’ Ben takes a deep breath, ‘Fisk knows I wasn’t alone when I visited his mother but he doesn’t know it was you.’

Karen sounds devastated, ’ _Ben, this is my-’_

Ben cuts her off. ‘No. It’s not your fault.’ He looks at a knock on the door. The Devil is there, looking vaguely expectant. ‘You’re not the one who tried to kill me after all. Look, Karen I have to go. Stay safe and keep your head down. I’ll call you when I can.’

He hangs up before she has a chance to reply and hands the phone over to the Devil. He takes it gently before nodding. ‘Thank you.’

‘Watch over her will you? Her lawyers too; but especially her.’

‘With my life,’ the Devil says without a hint of mockery or judgement. He’s most of the way out of the room before he pauses and says without turning to look at Ben, ‘We will get Fisk. Drag him into the spotlight and make people see him for the monster he is.’

‘I pray you’re right,’ Ben replies and the Devil nods and leaves. ‘I’ll pray you’re right,’ Ben repeats.


End file.
